Dealing with the unexpected: Bourne soldier will disarm bombs in Afghanistan

Tuesday

Jul 24, 2007 at 12:01 AMJul 24, 2007 at 2:08 AM

Army Specialist Mike Faria will spend the next 15 months in rugged sections of Afghanistan, defusing Taliban booby traps and deactivating roadside bombs in mountain terrain. The Taylors Point resident is 22.

By Paul Gately

Army Specialist Mike Faria will spend the next 15 months in rugged sections of Afghanistan, defusing Taliban booby traps and deactivating roadside bombs in mountain terrain. The Taylors Point resident is 22.

Faria is an explosives ordinance disposal (EOD) technician with advanced training at Red Stone Arsenal in Alabama where one-third of the bomb disposal class washed out for various reasons, not the least of which was a lack of ability to perform well under extreme pressure.

Faria’s 26-man unit in a very real way will match its training, wits and strong measure of self-assurance with the expertise of enemy bomb-makers. In support of Special Forces and other military units, he will deal with the unexpected inside the compound and “outside the wire.” Life may be ragged.

“The unexpected?” he said while home on leave this week. “That’s the whole mission. You have to stay ahead of the bomb-maker, and that’s tough to do sometimes. They are often insurgents new to the country and very well trained; they’re well educated and definitely smart. Their devices keep getting more sophisticated, and we have to deal with them.”

Faria places his confidence in his training; but he also likes what he is doing.

“I love this stuff,” he said. “We get to play with explosives every day. We respect that and we learn. I would have preferred Iraq over Afghanistan. EODs as a whole are more busy in Iraq; there’s more chances to disarm bombs. That’s pretty much what’s killing the most people there now. It’s a challenge all around.”

In advanced infantry training, Faria learned about Stress; and how to deal with it. The Army, however, does not train its EODs how to deal with the gore and violence that all too often now go hand-in-hand with his job.

He says the American military is seeing similar trends in the kinds of explosive devices planted along roadways in both war zones. Iraq, he said, is primarily an American military operation; it’s more a multinational undertaking in Afghanistan.

“All that stuff gets looked at and figures into our training,” he said. “But I don’t think there’s a number-one program of reporting about bombing trends. The bomb makers are professionals; they’re the brains of the operations, and it seems they do it in parts. The resulting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that are so deadly and well disguised, and made to look like almost anything natural, are planted by people who may not know if they’re already armed or not.”

Faria graduated from Bourne High School in 2002. He has been in Germany, preparing for war. He likes all kinds of music; having been stationed in the American South, however, he has also become fond of country-and-western.

He likes the Patriots. He is a member of Red Sox nation. He said he encountered a person in Frankfort wearing a Sox cap. He is prepared for the next 15 months and what it will bring his way. He may stay in the Army beyond his tour overseas.

“I’m just doing my job,” he said. “Maybe I can make a difference, and I’ll do what they tell me to do. I got into this because I wanted to do something I couldn’t do in civilian life.”

While away, he will become an uncle thanks to his sister Monique and her husband Jeff Smith in Florida. Back home, his sister Gabrielle will train to teach ballet. And his parents Julie and Michael Faria will wait for their son to return.

The Army specialist has a job where he will literally take his life in his hands. Julie Faria is as hesitant and proud as any mother is with a son headed to war. But she is also confident in his abilities. This is her reassurance.

“I guess I prefer him going to Afghanistan than Iraq,” Julie Faria said as she prepared a “Come Home Safe” party for her son. “Nothing’s going to be simple over there with what’s he’s doing. But Mike’s confident. He works great under stress. He doesn’t complain. He’s modest. He won’t talk about this stuff. And in all of that, I guess, I can say it helps his dad and me get through this.”